The world's healthcare systems are in crisis. Developed countries have a finite amount of healthcare resources and high patient expectations; many also have aging populations. Their healthcare systems all too often provide inconsistent quality, too many preventable medical errors, and overtreatment resulting in unnecessary injuries and deaths. Patient dissatisfaction is a big issue. Healthcare organizations do not seem to understand “the patient experience.” At the same time, patient engagement is viewed as a critical factor to begin solving the major challenges in healthcare. Patient engagement is defined as constructive collaborative relationships between patients, caregivers, and clinicians. For example, the Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have a strong emphasis on patient engagement. However, without patient participation, there is no patient engagement. There have been numerous failed attempts at patient engagement due to lack of participation.
The most common approach to prior attempts at patient engagement has been in form of various web-based patient portals and personal health records. For example, Medicare's Blue Button initiative is a Web-based feature through which patients may easily and securely download their health information from doctors, insurers, pharmacies, or other health-related services and share it with health care providers and caregivers. Each of these efforts has had limited success especially with elderly patients and low-income patients who often need engagement the most. As a result, hospital readmissions increase.